On Fri, Jan 08, 1999 at 12:32:49AM +0100, Henning Makholm wrote:
> Ben Collins <bmc@it.larc.nasa.gov> writes:
> > On Thu, Jan 07, 1999 at 03:06:44PM -0800, Joey Hess wrote:
>
> > > One fix would be to make dpkg-logger pause after outputting any messages to
> > > stdout.
>
> > There is no fix needed. replace echo with dpkg-logger and pause for return
> > key as usual.
>
> Wouldn't it be better to have an option to dpkg-logger meaning, 'wait
> for a return key after displaying the message'?
>
> Then a replacement dpkg-logger could decide to *not* wait for the
> return key (e.g., because it's 3am and we're a cron job and there
> is really noone nearby to press that silly return key).
I don't see this as a future capability, since it borders on
non-interactive installs. That is not the realm of this program's
intended features. That feature is better served by the non-interactive
process that will let the script know when it is being called in a way
that should not ask for input.
I've come to the conclusion from the other comments that dpkg-logger
should be it's own separate package, and probably written in C in
order to accomodate some of the back-end features. None the less, dpkg
should come with a default perl script that does nothing more than echo
to stdout, or maybe write a file directly. This would only serve as a
failsafe during situations of system duress.
The dpkg-logger package would then insert itself as the 'official'
alternative, unless an unofficial one is installed of course. Needless
to say it should be tagged as a base install package.
Planned features for the dpkg-logger program from the suggestions:
1) Continue to use syslog, but notice when syslog is not running and
attempt to deduce where syslog would have put the messages if it were.
Only do this if it's obvious from /etc/syslog.conf, that the default
line is still present. If the local6 line has changed, then output the
messages to screen, with a warning telling the user that it is not
being logged.
2) --wait option. Basically waits for keypress prior to returning from
dpkg-logger. This option is mainly
3) Use a configuration file (/etc/dpkg-logger.conf) to allow for
changes in how it handles messages:
a) Whether or not to ignore messages that are supposed to be
sent to stdout (log, but don't put on the screen).
b) Whether or not to use syslog or output directly to a file
using internal logging mechanism. Also would be able to
specify 'none' so that it only outputs to screen (no warning
since the user actually set this option purposely).
c) If using syslog, and syslog is not running, an alternate
file (if desired) to send output to directly. This option
would over ride #1 above and should be the default.
Anything else pertinent while I am hacking this together?
--
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Ben Collins <b.m.collins@larc.nasa.gov> Debian GNU/Linux
UnixGroup Admin - Jordan Systems Inc. bcollins@debian.org
------ -- ----- - - ------- ------- -- The Choice of the GNU Generation